


Bloodlines

by naberiie



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: CT-7567 | Rex - Mentioned, Episode: s02e10 The Deserter, F/M, Jek Lawquane - Mentioned, Shaeeah Lawquane - Mentioned, Slight Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 09:20:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14871056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naberiie/pseuds/naberiie
Summary: There is a not-quite-stranger in the Lawquanes' barn. He shares Cut's face, and every moment he is there, the risk of discovery, of splitting their family, grows. But Lawquanes help others, no matter what.





	Bloodlines

**Author's Note:**

> "I know you think I'm a coward, Rex. But believe me, I'll fight to my last breath to keep them safe."

Suu was waiting for him when he got back to the homestead.

That in of itself wasn’t unusual – they went to market together, as a family, when they could – but what _was_ unusual was the nervous, faltering smile; the flash of creeping dread in her eyes. Her lekku were tense with worry.

All that, and the rifle slung across her lap.

He set down their earnings on the smooth wooden table as she rose – keeping one hand tight on the rifle – and tightly embraced him. The small home was dark, save for the beams of moonlight cutting across the floors. The door that lead to Shaeeah and Jek’s room was shut. It was a beautiful night, one that should have been spent celebrating a successful day at the market. He’d spent the walk back from town humming to himself, stroking Kiri, their eopie, as every step brought him closer to his home. To his family.

Now, though, that peaceful contentment had been replaced with a tight unease.

She buried her face in the crook of his neck, and as one of his hands rose up to gently stroke the stress away from her lek and shoulders, she shivered.

“Cut,” she whispered in place of a greeting. “The war has come back here.”

He stiffened. Images of his brothers dead or dying next to him, crawling away from the wreckage while clankers had killed any survivors flooded his head. In the forest, bleeding out, until someone had found him and brought him to the small medical center in town. He shut his eyes, his old injuries suddenly aching. He rested his cheek on his wife’s head and murmured, “The war…”

“There is an injured trooper in our barn. His men brought him by – shot, by droids – I told them they could stay in the barn… He’ll be gone in the morning, but he’s there.”

Cut ran his fingers up and down the curve of Suu’s spine as they held each other in the dim moonlight. “Of course. You did the right thing.”

“Cut… what if he tells someone… what if they found out you’re here?”

“I won’t let that happen.”

“Let me put Kiri away.”

“No, Suu-”

“He _can’t_ see you, he’ll tell his superiors and then they’ll come back-”

“I’m not afraid. He’s my brother, Suu. I can’t…” His throat closed. “I’m not going to hide in my own home.”

“He could take you away from us!”

“No – hey – Suu, look at me, please.” He pulled back and cupped his wife’s face in his hands, stroked her cheek. “We help people, no matter what. But nothing, _nothing_ is going to take me away from you. From our family. Nothing.”

Her eyes were bright blue in the silver moonlight, and Cut fell in love with her all over again as she smiled softly at him.

He loved that he had to look up a little to meet her eyes.

He smiled back – the fear was still there – because he’d carved a life for himself here. A life he’d never thought he’d be lucky enough to have. It was a hard life, but it was _his._

Suu shivered again, her grip still tight on the rifle. “You’re a good man, Cut. Kind. Such a good man.”

Cut raised an eyebrow and half-jokingly whispered, “Lucky you.”

She snorted and kissed his lips. “Lucky me.”

For a moment, there was only their breathing and Shaeeah’s tiny snores from the other room. But the stranger in the barn tugged his at his attention and his sense of duty to his brothers. His squad was gone. But this man, whoever he was, was a brother, too.

“I have to go see him, Suu.” He didn’t say, but he knew that if he took a step over the threshold of the barn – even if he watched his step, even if he was as silent as a field mouse – the man would instantly be awake. Maybe not on his feet, if he was injured. But clones were light sleepers out of necessity. He didn’t want to tell Suu that if he went to the barn, the stranger would see him.

No matter what happened, Cut would never leave his family. And he was prepared to fight for them. He’d threaten, fight, beg this brother for his family. Cut knew he was a deserter, and that desertion meant reconditioning. He shivered at the onslaught of images of Kamino; he hadn’t thought about that place in months. There were risks.

But he had to see this brother.

She nodded. “Please, Cut please… be careful.”

“Of course. I’ll be right back.”

She watched from the threshold as he crossed the lawn. He took Kiri’s bridle in one hand and a heavy tool in the other.

Cut was a clone trooper, he used to be a soldier, but now he was a husband and a father, too.

Saleucami was his home, and he was never going back to the war.

As he crossed the lawn, Kiri waddling complacently behind him, he glanced over his shoulder at Suu. She raised her hand in a worried half-wave, and he steeled his resolve. When he got back, he would hold her close, he would kiss her cheek, her lekku, trace her tattoos with his hands. He would slip into his children’s room and kiss their foreheads as they slept.

_Please, brother._

_Let me stay._

_Please._


End file.
